Fading bruises
by leprekan187
Summary: What do you do when you know someone is being hurt? even if you aren't exactly friends? what if that person was your partner and you knew something wasn't right... Scorpius knows something is wrong with Rose's new fiance... rated M for abuse and language and sexual reference


(O)_(O)1

It was just like any other night coming in from patrol. Weasley and her _perfect_ boyfriend were kissing goodnight at the portrait hole and she looked increasingly uncomfortable just like every other time he had seen it. Quidditch practice before patrols had been brutal and he needed some sleep. His head was killing him and he was trying to come up with an excuse to beg off working on that essay they needed to do when the little git started to grope Weasley in earnest now; Scorpius had no doubt that they had been going at it for the last few hours that he had been on patrol.

"Knock it off Steele. The Head Girl needs to breathe in order to help run the school." Scorpius snarked at the shorter male prefect that he had never really liked to begin with. Weasley looked completely relieved to be free of his octopus-like clingy hands and mouth.

"Fuck off, Malfoy." He retorted but he was now walking towards Scorpius instead of man handling Weasley. Thankfully he didn't say another word as he passed Scorpius and turned down at the end of the corridor. Scorpius didn't know if he had the restraint he would need in order to argue with the little trog to not kill him as soon as he opened his mouth.

Weasley was already back inside the head common room and sitting down to start her homework by the time Scorpius made it to the opening. She was dressed in a long skirt like normal with a new Weasley sweater swallowing her whole perched on the couch frowning with a quill between her teeth as she thumbed through a book. She looked thinner again but not enough to really comment on.

She wasn't his friend or anything of the sort but they had always been polite to each other and never got into any arguments outside of academical rivalry. But at the same time he noticed small things about her that most wouldn't. Like how she flinched away from most people now or how she always seemed to wear conservative clothes since dating Steele or how she stopped drinking pumpkin juice out of nowhere last term. Maybe it came from paying attention to detail and his natural Ravenclaw curiosity or just being on the outside looking in.

Scorpius didn't say anything as he puttered around the small kitchenette to make a pot of tea but he knew something was wrong, he just didn't know anything else.

By the time he walked around the room to where Weasley was sitting hunched over her essay that wasn't due for four4 days she must have forgotten he was there because she jumped so violently that only a quick wave of his wand caught the falling tea tray and prevented them from being covered in hot tea. Her dainty little hand was pressed into the base of her throat, nails digging in enough to form little red rings as she breathed heavily with her eyes closed.

Without a word he sat down a cushion over to give her some space as he fixed a cup of tea with a single lump of sugar and a bit of milk and sat it next to her parchment. Taking his tea straight he looked at her close up for the first time since before Christmas break. She looked tired. But being seventh years and Heads that was understandable. But she looked utterly bushed as she calmed herself with her eyes still closed and trying to breathe evenly.

"Sorry about that, Scor, thank you for the tea." She managed eventually as he caught a glimpse of the ugly looking rock on her thin ring finger. So Steele managed to propose to her over the break and get her and her parents to give consent for such an act. Slightly surprised that she said yes with how much of a pain Steele was but again, they were not friends, that line had always been clearly drawn. Homework _buddies_ , study group of _two_ , potions _partners_ , Weasley had a name for whatever they were that week or month but it was never _friends._

"No problem. I'm surprised you didn't wait on me to start." He said honestly as he watched her reaction. She was calm and collected now but he could see the tension building in her shoulders.

"I figured since it was second term that I would work by myself." She said softly before going back to her essay. They had worked together on almost everything for years with shared classes and projects. So that was bullshit and they both knew it, but out of respect for what little bit of camaraderie they had managed, he let it go. It wasn't worth trying to argue with a Weasley when they thought they were right.

"Just let me know if you change your mind, Red." He smirked as he pushed up off the couch and made his way to his room.

"Don't call me Red." She called back to him softly. He just smirked harder as he shut his door.

(o)_(o)2

I sighed in relief as Scorpius went to bed without a fight this time. I felt horrible about the tea but I was still on edge from Lucas. He was being increasingly more insistent to stay here with me in the Head tower since I was rooming with only Scorpius now. Taking deep calming breaths I gave up on the essay and went to my room to change for bed.

Not bothering to take anything off I went straight to the bathroom and grabbed one of my newly made jars of bruise paste and started the water for a long hot bath. Stripping quickly I winched as I saw the bruises already forming. Hand prints and love bites covered my body in the most ugly ways possible. I didn't like to look at them and I hated the process of the bruises healing.

I knew Lucas didn't mean it and I had always bruised easily but he always seemed to forget that after a few days and he was a beater on the Gryffindor team so he was naturally rougher than most people. Besides, it's just easier to apply the bruise paste and take a shower than try to remind him every time he touched me and get him worked up for no reason.

I paced my bathroom for a few minutes to let the paste sink in and stretch my sore muscles. And since he had been particularly rough to night I had to add bruise paste between my legs again very carefully.

I always had to wait for him to not be paying attention and to spell away his sperm from inside me, it hurt but since we had started having sex he was always very close to me for hours before and hours after; like he wanted me pregnant. I didn't understand the reason behind it really but I knew I didn't want to be a statistic that seemed to relish now days.

Chilled to the bone from the cool winter air seeping into the castle from outside and the drying bruise paste I turned on the water for full heat and sunk into a bath this time instead of a shower since my legs were still a bit wobbly from his roughness.

Once I felt as warm and as clean as I could get I climbed out of the tub to take a dose of calming drought to help me sleep and dressed in my warmest and softest night dress and crawled into my bed alone since Lucas had insisted that, Nesha, my cat needed to stay home this semester to avoid being neglected from my work load… it had seemed logical at the time but right now I missed my sweet Nesha. With foggy feeling from the drought I finally dozed off still chilled.

(o)_(o)3

It was more than a few weeks later, after Leigh had left and Scorpius was lying down in his bed drifting off, when he heard a slam that bolted him awake then stomping before the portrait door slammed shut. He counted to ten slowly before he got up out of his bed and grabbed a shirt from the floor and made his way to Weasley's room. Stopping only to tell the portrait guardian not to let anyone in except for a professor or a female prefect.

The door was cracked open like Steele had slammed it shut but it didn't catch and had simply opened back up again. She was curled up near the foot of her bed in the floor crying heavy, loud sobs. Dressed in at least her dressing robe she didn't notice Scorpius until he sat down next to her silently and she simply fell sideways and clutched at him as if he was her lifeline. He noticed that her ring was missing and the hand looked like it was freshly healed from a break as he gently tried to soothe her anguish by petting her awkwardly while noting the glaring absence of Nesha.

When it felt as if just as she managed to calm herself down she worked herself back into an unbreathing mess as she gasped and choked on her own air he sighed softly. He knew he needed to get a calming drought into her to get her to sleep but he had left his wand in his own room. Gently he picked her up to sit her back on her own bed and removed her bony hands from his shirt that she had clutched so tightly he was amazed to find it not ripped.

He knew she kept all of the basic healing potions in her cabinet in the bathroom and he went to grab a vial of calming drought only to find far too many empty bruise paste jars and about two dozen vials with dregs of calming droughts that would not be considered normal and a half empty skele-grow bottle. Scorpius was shocked, but he knew she wouldn't like him asking questions or prying into her personal life so he grabbed a calming drought and went back into her bedroom where she had worked herself into a fit again.

"If… he comes… and finds you in here…" she whispered in a terrified voice that sounded awful from her crying as he carefully sat next to her and brushed her hair out of her face.

"No one is getting up here tonight but the professors or a female prefect. He can bang on the door all he likes; he won't be getting in tonight." Scorpius whispered softly as he offered her the vial of potion. She took too much, but Scorpius figured she wanted to sleep so he eased the blankets that looked homemade out from underneath her and covered her back up. "I'm here if you want to talk. Or even if it's just to sit quietly."

"You're not even my friend, Scorp," she whispered painfully as she drifted off.

"Yes, you seem to love reminding me…" he said softly, but with a snark she didn't need in her direction as he exited her room and went back to his own to attempt to sleep. He knew it was useless to try but they had important lessons all the way up to exams and he was getting into the Auror research department if it killed him.

(o)-(o)4

It was hard to watch her fawn over him after seeing what he did some nights but he had to grit his teeth and bare it. The only thing Scorpius was glad to see was that the ring on her finger was still gone. Scorpius could barely stomach to eat when they were in the great hall anymore. Steele with a swotty smug look on his face that Scorpius would give almost anything to wipe off the bastard's face and Weasley with the most pitiful kicked puppy look that she tried to turn into a decent expression that everyone but him bought. He couldn't help but sneer when he thought about it when Leigh wasn't looking to ask about it.

Her family didn't know… her _friends_ didn't know… none of the professors seemed to know… but Scorpius was completely convinced that Steele was abusing her. She seemed so much more timid to him now than she had in the past. And he was afraid that Steele was going to break her in the worst way possible. Knowing there was only one way around it to out her without her _knowing_ it was intentional was to pair up with Albus again for a potions project and have them working on it around the same time that Steele normally stormed off and to let her cousin deal with the aftermath and to see the state she would irrevocably be in.

Sure enough over the next few days Slughorn paired them up for a project and Albus outwardly stated he didn't want to suffer the overly packed library. So that night they had agreed to meet near the end of patrols and work on it afterhours when they knew it would be quiet and Scorpius knew Steele would be in his normal mood.

(o)-(o)5

I paced my bedroom in a frillier night gown that Lucas liked barefoot on the plush carpet, after having cast a quick charm to dispelling Lucas' junk from inside me while he went to use the loo right quick. He had been strangely soft and gentle tonight and I didn't understand why. I had been so used to the rough handed way he had developed that it caught me completely off guard for him to be gentle. It made me feel warm inside for the first time in what felt like years. I had forgotten how this felt and I was going to enjoy it while I could.

He had taken away the engagement ring telling me I had to earn it back at the end of last week and it was all I could do to not fall to pieces until he left. He hadn't apologized but it was my fault anyway, I knew not to anger him when he was already stressed over exams and quidditch. He had taken to spending more time with the quidditch team and his friends, but had always stopped by at night while Scorpius was out on last patrols. And I was surprised at how well things were going this week.

I turned around with a big smile as he opened the door to my bathroom and walked through. I felt my insides freeze instantly at the look he gave me. He was holding a Ravenclaw bath towel.

"What the bloody hell is _this?_ " he demanded. I knew it was rhetorical but I felt compelled to answer him anyway.

"Probably Scorpius' towel. The elves probably just put it on the wrong shelves. His is right on the other side of the wall," I answered softly. I actually didn't feel his hand on my face until my head snapped to the side.

"Bollocks! You've been fucking him behind my back haven't you, you fucking slag." He sneered, close to me getting spittle in my face. He had a wild look about him the scared me more than I cared to admit.

"No. I have not," I said honestly. "We're not even really friends…" I whispered knowing that was a lie. Scorpius was the closest thing I had to a real friend. Everyone else thought I was so lucky to have such a wonderful guy and how he was so handsome and down to earth. No one really understood that they couldn't say things that upset him because he always ended up talking to me about it and it was usually my arms or my sex that faced the brunt of his anger.

I felt Lucas' hands grab my upper arms and I winced at the thought of the bruises that would be there later. He shook me. Hard. "This is the last chance, Rose. I am not playing games with you anymore. I do not want to have to break up with you." He hissed in my face still getting spittle on me.

"You're hurting me, Luke," I whispered painfully, trying for the only nickname he liked to be called, afraid I would scream and it would break through the quickly weakening silencing spell he put up hours ago when he had instigated sex.

Lucas threw me down hard on the carpet and I felt my knees and elbows skid across the carpet and I knew I would have to treat rug burn after he left. When I hit the wall and side of the dresser on my back I felt a horrible feeling shoot through my spine and my breath was stolen from me in that instant. I flinched when he stomped up to me and cried out with what little air I had left when he grabbed a fistful of my hair.

"You don't know how good you have it. You think anyone else would want a wasted slag like you? You are _nothing_." Lucas' voice was soft but the tone itself made me curl into myself. "Look at you, completely disgusting." He threw the handful of my hair away making my head hit the wall. "I'm leaving before you force me to do something I regret… and to think… I was going to give you the ring back tonight." He sneered before he stomped out of the room and slammed my door. I tried to breathe as I waited for the portrait door to slam shut as well.

As always moments later I heard soft running footsteps towards my room and let myself fall apart finally. Scorpius would take care of me. I would eventually have to have enough courage to call him my best friend. A title he should have had since first year.

I looked up when I felt soft hands touch my face. My breath caught in my throat as I saw bright green eyes behind glasses.

" _Albus.._ " I whispered painfully.

(o)-(o)6

Scorpius watched Albus as he looked curiously towards Roses' set of stairs at the complete silence. He was sure Potter thought they were just having sex. Scorpius was on edge when they went into the small potions lab that old Sluggy had set up for him and Rose since they were at the top of their year. He made sure to leave the door propped open so that he could hear when Steele made his dramatic exit. It took longer than usual that night, Scorpius was starting to think tonight would be a lost cause and the two were tidying up the room when Scorpius heard the first slam. Albus jumped clean out of his skin and had his wand drawn as quick as any Auror Scorpius had seen. The second slam had Albus running out of the lab and into the sitting area. Less than a full second later he was taking the steps to Weasley's room two at a time with his wand out. Scorpius quickly made work of a pot of tea with a touch of a mild calming drought before heading up to her room with the tray. He found the two cousins rocking gently on the floor.

Weasley actually looked much worse than he normally found her but looking around the room he quickly found the reason. A blue Ravenclaw towel. It was the only explanation as to why Steele would fly off the handle so much more than normal. He angrily balled it up and tossed it out of her room before he went into her bathroom to find it ransacked. Potion bottles were scattered much more than Rose Weasley would ever allow and there were not as many empty ones as he was used to seeing but there was a contraceptive potion broken on the floor. _That_ must have started Steele's anger and it just bottomed out from there. Scorpius quickly grabbed a bruise paste and a calming drought before going back into her bedroom to find them sitting on her bed with a cup of tea each. Scorpius silently handed the two bottles over to Albus before starting to head out the door.

"Malfoy! Wait…please…Scorpius…" Rose whimpered pitifully. Scorpius froze on the spot. She never asked him to stay or to do anything really. He turned around and carefully looked in her eyes to find them very red but dry at the moment. He cocked a slender eyebrow at her in question and it took her a few minutes to get the words out of her mouth. "Thank you, for being my best friend." Her bright red and brown eyes filled with tears as her almost empty cup of tea fell to the floor, bouncing slightly as the rest of the tea soaked into the carpet and Scorpius walked back over to her and picked her up gently and sat her in his lap while soothing her softly, murmuring words that made no sense but felt comforting at the time.

Albus Potter looked at them with wide and shocked eyes. Honestly the poor boy looked like he was shell shocked to Scorpius and he couldn't really blame him. Most people never saw the two of them past academia.

Once Scorpius was sure she had cried herself to sleep he looked at Albus and nodded to the calming drought and the bruise paste. Making sure that she swallowed a bit more but just enough to keep her asleep he laid her on her bed and started with her right side while Albus tended to her left. Arms, elbows, knees and the tops of her feet were covered in bruises and what appeared to be rug burn. Knowing she would be in pain when she woke up Scorpius went back to her bedroom for a pain potion and sat it on her bedside table with the pot of tea made specifically for her with the cup she had dropped and spelled away the mess on the carpet.

Albus silently followed Scorpius back out of the room and stooped to pick up the Ravenclaw towel Scorpius had thrown minutes earlier.

He suddenly found a wand pressed into his throat and an angry Potter on the other end.

"Did you _know?_ " he demanded with a growl.

"The first time I ever saw any concrete evidence was at the end of last week when he nearly broke her finger to get the ring off of her, but one of them had already fixed it before I got to her. She was only a crying mess and had a really red hand," Scorpius said honestly and the wand was pulled away.

"I am going to _murder_ Steele," Albus seethed as he went down the rest of the steps and paced the heads' common area. Scorpius let the angry Potter pace as he grabbed the bottle of firewhisky he had smuggled back into the school after break, a sobering potion, and a set of glass tumblers from the small kitchenette.

"And just how would Red react to that?" Scorpius asked softly as he poured the first fingerling of the whisky.

"I don't bloody well give a rat's arse," Albus snapped violently as he tossed the Firewhisky back and continued pacing angrily.

"Her, and I say this with as much of a nastiness as I can, _fiancé_ dead and her favorite cousin going to Azkaban for his murder… sure that will go over swimmingly," he said refilling the glass tumblers with more whisky.

"Fuck," Albus hissed as he downed the second glass, this time full of whisky and handed it back only to toss that full glass back as well before he collapsed on the couch looking a bit calmer but still just as full or rage. "Fuck."

"I know. I knew something was going on but I didn't know what. And I sure as hell did know it was _that_." Scorpius said downing his own glass.

"I'm fire calling my dad. Do you have any floo powder?" Albus asked suddenly sitting up from the couch.

"I do. Let's clean this up first and take the sobering potion though." Scorpius suggested as they made quick work of the booze and each cast a refreshment charm on the other dispelling the smell of Firewhisky completely.

Scorpius went up to check on Weasley and saw that she was starting to stir in her sleep. He gently shook her awake. Sure enough it must have been a nightmare because her eyes were wild and panicked as she shot up from her pillow.

"Scor?" she whimpered holding the back of her head. Scorpius hadn't even thought about her head. He quickly handed her the vial of pain potion and a cup of tea.

"Don't take enough to go back to sleep. Albus is flooing the Potter-Weasley clan," Scorpius said softly as she sighed deeply at him before finding a thicker night dress and a pair of slippers. He let her change before sending a gentle spell to her wild hair as he led her down her stairs, her legs very unstable.

Sure enough when they got back down Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger-Weasley were sitting on the sofa and chair with what Scorpius assumed was a vial of memories from Albus who stood next to the fire place until he saw Rose stumble slightly and he rushed forward to help Scorpius steady her.

"Mrs Granger-Weasley," Scorpius said with a polite nod as he handed over the arm he had tried not to harm any further to the poor girl's mother.

"Rosie? Baby?" Hermione whispered gently. "Can you tell us what happened?" she asked as she reached up to pet the back of her head and Scorpius quickly shook his head at the older witch. He watched as Ron clinched his fists and Ginny's eyes flashed in tandem with her brother's. Harry Potter stood quickly.

"I am going to see Neville. I will be back. Scorpius, we will need your memories, Albus said there was a less offensive time before this, we'll need that one as well. Albus can you assist him?" he said before flooing out of the heads' commons.

The rest of the night and morning seemed to pass in a blur for the three seventh years and by the time breakfast rolled around the headmaster was involved along with all of the house heads.

Rose didn't say much from the overwhelming amount of people that suddenly _knew_ but she reached for Scorpius once her mother got up to use the loo and check her potion stock for more pain relief. Hermione Granger-Weasley came back to find her daughter asleep between her cousin and a Malfoy. She didn't want to know the particulars but from what she had just seen in her daughter's loo, she would personally dismember the Steele boy is she was ever alone with him again.

Before the first class of the day the Matron had cast diagnostic spells on Rose Weasley and made a note of everything that the potions left behind along with the toxicity of the bruise paste and calming drought in her system. By the end of the first class Ron Weasley manhandled Lucas Steele out of his classroom and dragged him to the ministry to await his hearing.

Back up in the Head tower Hermione had flooed back home to retrieve Nesha for her daughter and was pleased when the cat reacted almost like Crooks as she marched over to her human with her tail straight up in the air and completely disregarded everyone else but for the sleeping frail girl between two massive guards.

(o)-(o)7

Months had passed in a quick succession for a semi-permanent injured Rose, Scorpius, and Albus, but it was finally graduation and Leigh joined Rose and Scorpius on stage before the long and drawn out ceremony.

Scorpius Malfoy helped Leigh into her chair before helping Rose, who was still a bit off on her walking, into hers on the platform at graduation. He sat between the two girls with a smile on his face.

He had been accepted into the Auror Corps program and was set with his recommendations from both the Head Auror and direct undersecretary of the Minister. Leigh was going to France to work under her favorite quidditch team captain. And Rose, she had decided to work at St. Mungo's to help battered women.

With Lucas Steele gone, Scorpius had noticed a shocking 180° from being under his constant hold. The biggest he could name was actually the fact that he went from everything but her friend to her _best_ friend literally overnight. Scorpius didn't romantically love Rose but he didn't need to and she didn't need him to. Just being friends and not physically dealing with Steele had given Rose much of her old self back it felt like to Scorpius.

Leigh made her speech for valedictorian and made half the audience tear up. Rose held Scorpius' hand in a tight hold when Leigh mentioned how students had to come together to help a fellow in need before it turned deadly without naming any direct names even though the whole school knew. Rose was moving in with Scorpius and Leigh for a while since she still had horrible nightmares and was working on weaning herself off of calming drought still.

Once the pomp and circumstance was over and most everyone had left the grounds of Hogwarts on the boats Scorpius waited while Rose remained behind for a moment of personal clarity.

Rose Weasley was a survivor. She wasn't perfect by any means. She had a dependency she was trying to get rid of. She had scars, both physical and mental. She would have emotional problems that could quite possibly last her whole life. But she was starting a new chapter in her life. And she was damned if she would let someone else face what she did alone. She felt a gust of wind as the giant squid surfaced the black lake and splashed wildly soaking both Rose and Scorpius. Rose felt a tickle deep in her soul that slowly bubbled out of her mouth in a bright cheerful laugh.

Yes, Rose Weasley had been the target of an abusive sociopath, but she was more than that and it was time she showed the world just exactly _what_ Rose Weasley was made of. And with her best friend by her side it was without a doubt going to be one hell of a ride.


End file.
